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This game is worth the hype

By Matt Langone, mlangone@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/06/2013 07:12:14 AM EST

You may not have even the slightest shred of interest in college football, but you'll forget all about that on Monday night.

When the clock strikes 8 p.m., you'll grab the remote and navigate over to ESPN. Viewership will be through the roof, we're talking potential ratings records here. And you'll be right there watching, not giving a second thought about skipping out on the usual Monday night sitcom lineup.

This is going to be huge.

This is No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Alabama for the BCS national championship.

Just saying that sentence sends a chill up my spine. Even here in New England where college football seemingly takes a back seat to candlepin bowling, how can you be anything less than giddy about this matchup? Simply put: It's as good as it gets.

The two most-storied, most-polarizing and tradition-rich programs in the country will meet for college football's biggest prize in Miami. It's the deep South against the nation's most famous Catholic University. Go ahead, try to tell me this isn't great.

We've been waiting for over a month for this game to get here. The hype machine has been cranked up to its highest level over the past few weeks. But if ever the hype was warranted, this is the time.

The storylines are endless.

Notre Dame is unbeaten at 12-0, looking for its first national title since 1988 and a return to its perch atop the college football landscape. Defending champion Alabama is 12-1 and looking for its third BCS title in four years.

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The Crimson Tide, trying to become the seventh straight SEC team to capture the BCS trophy, are a heavy favorite.

These teams are surprisingly unfamiliar to each other. They haven't met since 1987, when ND rolled the Tide, 37-6. The Fighting Irish hold the all-time series edge, 5-1, including a 24-23 win in the 1973 Sugar Bowl, a game widely regarded as one of the greatest in college football history.

Both schools have won a record eight Associated Press national titles, with Bama capturing three since 1992.

The man playing the lead role behind the recent Crimson Tide dominance is head coach Nick Saban. You either love Slick Nick, or you loathe him. But either way, the fact remains that the man can coach. He already had a national championship to his credit with LSU, and now he's added two more in Tuscaloosa. That shaky pro stint with the Miami Dolphins is a distant memory.

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly has local ties. The 51-year-old was born in Everett, raised in Chelsea and attended St. John's Prep in Danvers before moving on to Assumption College, where he played football. In just his third season at ND, he has guided the Irish to a remarkable turnaround.

Prior to this season, Notre Dame had lost at least five games in five straight seasons, and hadn't finished with fewer than three losses since 1993. The mystique of the Fighting Irish was fading fast until Kelly rejuvenated the program. A championship would elevate him into the pantheon of great ND coaches: Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian and Lou Holtz

Kelly has plucked ideas from Saban's system. Like Alabama, Notre Dame's strength lies within its fast, strong, play-making defense. The Irish led the country in points allowed per game, followed right behind by Bama.

Rarely does the main source of star power in a national title game belong to a defensive player, but in this game it does. Heisman Trophy runner-up and senior linebacker Manti Te'o leads the charge for ND, with an incredible seven interceptions on the season.

Of course, Alabama is loaded with a plethora of future NFL talent on both sides of the ball. The Crimson Tide have a pair of 1,000-yard rushers (Eddie Lacy, T.J. Yeldon) and a more than adequate QB in junior A.J. McCarron (26 TDs, 3 INTs).

But the true intrigue of this game lies within the pageantry.

The fight songs, the uniforms, the history -- Notre Dame and Alabama belong on opposite sidelines in a national championship. It just feels right. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that we'll get this lucky again in the near future.

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